Preview: Wycombe Wanderers v Port Vale

Wycombe Wanderers bring down the curtain on the 2012/13 campaign with a visit from promoted Port Vale to Adams Park on the final day of the season.

The Valiants sealed their promotion to League One with a 2-2 draw against Northampton Town at Vale Park last weekend. Mathematically they can still be caught should they lose to the Chairboys and Cheltenham Town beat Bradford City this weekend but there would also need to be a swing of 28 goals, which of course is never going to happen.

It will make for a party atmosphere with the visitors backed by the largest ever away support seen at Adams Park since it opened back in 1990. 2,854 tickets have been allocated and almost all of them have been snapped up! There could be more away fans than home fans with 2,881 Chairboys (and girls) watching the goal-less draw with Northampton Town in the previous home game ten days ago.

Any of the 857 Wycombe fans who had the misfortune to travel to Underhill last weekend would be forgiven for not wanting to put themselves throughout that level of torment again. The Blues put in an utterly abject display that ended in a predictable 1-0 defeat. Had it not been for the performance of teenage goalkeeper Matt Ingram, the relegation-threatened hosts would have won by a far greater margin. A similar performance and the Valiants could match their recent 7-1 thrashing of Burton Albion!

To add insult to injury the lethargic Joel Grant saw his injury-time penalty saved by Bees' goalkeeper Graham Stack as the visitors endured a thoroughly miserable afternoon. The defeat sees Wycombe remain in 14th place in the League Two table on 59 points. The team can still match the clubs worst ever points tally of 62, which was recorded under current Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert, as they recorded a 12th placed finish in the 2006/07 season.

Port Vale will be making their 7th visit to Adams Park this weekend and will be looking for only their second victory. The Chairboys have won four, drawn one and lost one of the previous half-a-dozen meetings in the Chair Metropolis. The first came in March 2001, a week before the F.A. Cup quarter-final tie with Premier League Leicester City at Filbert Street. A striker by the name of Roy Essandoh was handed his full debut in a lacklustre encounter.

It came as no surprise when Steve Brooker`s scored the winner for the Valiants just before the hour when his shot was tipped onto the post by goalkeeper Martin Taylor but he reacted first to turn home the re-bound. It was rumoured that one Wycombe fan was so disgusted by the performance that he ripped up his ticket for Filbert Street, claiming the side would have no chance playing like that!

Six months later it was a very different story as the Wanderers blew the visitors away with a sensational first half display. Darren Currie was the star of the show and his 8th minute corner was headed home by Richard Walker at the near post. Andy Rammell headed home a second just two minutes later before Walker bagged a brace with less than a quarter of an hour played. Chris Killen`s second half strike proved to be just a consolation as Wycombe won 3-1.

The hosts repeated that scoreline in December 2002, however the mood was very different as Lawrie Sanchez indulged in a war of words with supporters. Andy Thomson put the Blues ahead just before the break but Ian Armstrong`s deflected effort levelled things early in the second half. It took the introduction of Sean Devine to seal the three points. He`d only been on the pitch three minutes when he scored from the spot before curling home a beauty in injury-time.

The clash in April 2004 saw the Wanderers looking to pull off an unlikely escape from relegation under Tony Adams. The side had won its first match in 14 attempts at Oldham Athletic the previous weekend and they recorded back-to-back victories courtesy of a brace from Darren Currie. His first came from the penalty spot just before the break to cancel out Chris McPhee`s early goal and he then grabbed the winner with a quarter of an hour remaining.

It would be more than four years before the sides would meet again. The November 2008 clash saw Peter Taylor`s side record an impressive 4-2 victory. Matt Harrold scored from the spot to put the hosts ahead and Chris Zebroski doubled the lead on the stroke of half-time. Marc Richards halved the deficit from the penalty spot early in the second half before Zebroski poked home to restore the Wanderers two-goal advantage. Scott Brown fired home for the Vale to pull another back before Harrold grabbed a brace of his own with eight minutes remaining to seal the points

The last meeting came in February 2011 as Gary Waddock`s men searched for promotion from League Two. Jim Gannon was in the visitors dug-out and should have gone away with all three points. Leon Johnson put through his own net two minutes into the second half but ten minutes later Scott Donnelly levelled with a low shot into the bottom corner from just inside the box. It needed a superb save from goalkeeper Nikki Bull to hold onto a point and he kept out Tom Pope`s penalty with just nine minutes remaining and the game finished all-square at 1-1.

Blues' boss Gareth Ainsworth made three changes to his starting line-up last time out with striker Dean Morgan forced to drop to the bench after tweaking his hamstring in the warm-up. That saw striker Jo Kuffour start as the lone attacker. Defender Michael Harriman and midfielder Sam Wood were both handed recalls with defender Marvin McCoy dropping to the bench and striker Matt McClure missing out with a recurrence of a hamstring problem. Defender Dave Winfield was ruled-out with a calf strain and both players, along with Morgan, remain doubtful for the weekend. Josh Scowen will be rested to avoid picking up his 15th booking of the campaign (and thus beginning next season with a three match ban).

Defender Michael Harriman and winger Bruno Andrade are set to make their final appearances before returning to parent club Queens Park Rangers. A whole host of players are also set for their last games as Chairboys before discovering whether they`ll be offered new contracts. Most notably they include the likes of Marvin McCoy, Dave Winfield and Leon Johnson, winger Joel Grant and striker Dean Morgan.

Four players remain sidelined with defender Anthony Stewart recovering from surgery after fracturing his hand. Midfielder Matt Bloomfield continues to struggle with a pelvic shear which is preventing him from training. Defender Danny Foster is recovering from a second operation on his knee. Full-back Grant Basey continues his rehabilitation following surgery on his anterior cruciate ligaments.

Port Vale will be aiming to take all three points to ensure they finish as runners-up after sitting in second place in League Two for most of the season. Manager Micky Adams named an unchanged starting line-up in the 2-2 draw with Northampton Town last weekend and made just the one change on the bench. Teenage midfielder Ryan Lloyd came into the squad for injured striker Ben Williamson. He missed out with a knee ligament injury and remains sidelined.

Defender Rob Taylor is ruled-out with an Achilles problem whilst winger Calvin Andrew misses out with a knee injury. Winger Ashley Vincent will be hoping to return after missing the last five weeks with an ankle injury. Defender Clayton McDonald won`t be involved after returning from his loan at Bristol Rovers with an injury. Defender Joe Davis is doubtful after limping off with a knock picked up in a reserve game in midweek. There is not a single ex-Chairboy in the current Vale squad.

In 13 previous meetings there have been 5 wins for Wycombe, 3 for Port Vale and 5 draws.

At Adams Park the tally is 4 wins for the Chairboys, 1 for Vale and 1 draw.

2000/01 LG1: Wycombe 0 Port Vale 1

2001/02 LG1: Wycombe 3 Port Vale 1

2002/03 LG1: Wycombe 3 Port Vale 1

2003/04 LG1: Wycombe 2 Port Vale 1

2008/09 LG2: Wycombe 4 Port Vale 2

2010/11 LG2: Wycombe 1 Port Vale 1

The Man In The Middle

Saturday's referee is Mark Haywood from West Yorkshire who was promoted to the National List of Referees in 2006. Earlier this season he took charge of Wycombe's 2-1 win at Torquay United. During the current campaign he's issued 4 red and 107 yellow cards in 39 appearances.